Go Negosyo founder Joey Concepcion on Monday, July 25, hailed President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s announcement that there would be no more lockdowns under his administration due to the threats of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Concepcion, vice chair of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development (MSMED) Council, said that a no-lockdown policy is what the private sector and the micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) have been waiting to hear.
“We are grateful to President Marcos for his assurance that there will be no more lockdowns that will be imposed in the country. This is what the private sector and MSMEs need as it will allow for full recovery from the pandemic,” he stated in his reaction to the President’s first State of the Nation Address (SONA) delivered from the Batasang Pambansa Complex in Quezon City.
Marcos said that there would be no more lockdowns because the country cannot afford it.
Instead, he wants the country to focus on vaccinating and boosting the eligible population for the economy to reopen fully.
Concepcion said the private sector is willing to help the chief executive in this regard so that businesses can operate at full capacity and schools can hold full face-to-face classes.
Go Negosyo, the non-government organization (NGO) he founded to promote entrepreneurship and job creation, is currently working on the “ISA PA” campaign.
This will “encourage those who are due for boosters to get one more shot for their loved ones, for themselves, for the country,” he explained.
Concepcion also hoped that Marcos can heed their recommendation to use a stoplight system—the use of the colors green, yellow, and red—in exchange for the alert levels used to classify movement restrictions during the Duterte administration.
The entrepreneur said that the stoplight system will “simplify restrictions as we live with the virus.”
The system will be based on two measures: the average daily attack rate (ADAR) and the healthcare utilization rate (HCUR).
He said these are indicators already being used all over the world.
In its weekly bulletin as of Sunday, July 24, the Department of Health said there are 19,536 new confirmed cases of Covid-19 infection for the week.
The same report revealed that more than 71.5 million Filipinos have already been fully vaccinated, while 15.9 million received a booster dose.